Living with the Street Triple

[Jon.sb]

Apart from the fact that the weatehr is worsening and I'm bloody freezing (and the poor quality of the backroads don't encourage me to be a hooligan when it's freezing) I am really impressed by Strippy but here are some further observations:

I can't say that I'm impressed by the suspension. As a friend of mine would say "it does what it says in the tin" but I think I will look at some tweeks including the possibility to lower by an inch if I can. I thought the demo was fine and I'm not struggling with the bike thanks to the riding position and the light weight BUT if I'm going to fiddle with the shock I might as well try to make it perfect!

The fairings look cool (well I like them) but they are pretty ineffective. It's not something that annoys me because I bought a naked bike but worth mentioning.

I started with a full tank and the fuel light come on after 110 miles. The bike is doing around the mid 40 (between 44 and 47 average) miles per gallon. Note that a UK gallon is, I think, different to the US gallon. I was pretty please with that. It's comparable to the SV650 and although I am not yet allowed to thrash the bike I was expecting worse ecconomy because of the tightness of the engine/gearbox during the running in period.

In general the bike rides beautifully but the fact that I'm not allowed to exceed 5,000 rpm (it's blipped up to 6,000 during gear changes) has prevented me from carving through traffic as I would normally. I keep thinking that even if I overtake I'll barely make progress over the car in front. The other thing is that the gearbox is rather "clunky" and I'm hoping that this will settle down as the run in progresses. It's certainly improving over the day that I picked it up BUT the demo bike was MUCH better. What I can only describe as "clicks" instead of "clunks".

Final point. I think I will ask for a little adjustment to the throttle. There is no "snatchiness" but the cable feels a little "elasticky" when going from off to on. I know that there should be a little play and maybe it's just a characteristic of the bike but I'd like to hear other people's thoughts.

I love the green! I have had lots of positive remarks on the colour from the guys at work but it wasn't a colour that I would have considered if there were more colour options (other than black or white).

The exhaust sound is glorious!

Best part of all though.... I pulled up at some traffic lights last night and some guys that pulled up next to me wound down the window and gave the bike lots of praise followed by a request to rev it up. I'm not into that sort of thing but gave a quick blip before the lights went green and I disapeared into the distance......

As I said at the beginning. It's winter, I am cold and I'm not going to loon it up simply to throw the bike across the road thanks to a manhole cover of some grit. So don't expect any reports on wheelies or stoppies from this member!

[Adamcheck]

Nice write up mate....good to see so many people putting in early impression of running the machine in..

Nice page too, though i will be honest, i am not a big fan of the black screen on the green striple.... just my personal opinion though

[vega 0]

I would agree with all that you have written

The throttle has lots of play when new, and they must stretch a little also. I had mine adjusted on first service, and its perfect now

The suspension, well everyone has their own opinion on this. I understand it is a cheaper unit, and I also understand that not everyone cares about adjustment, but in my experience so far, the rear shock is particularly bad. I'll add however, that I did pretty much expect this, and this shock will suit most people (people that aren't too heavy, and don't hammer it into bends).

I get about 120 miles before the light comes on, which I'm pleased with.

The gearbox is very clunky, but I have ridden a Daytona 675 and a Striple with about 1200 miles on each, and they click rather than clunk, so expect ours to do that after a few more miles

I have both visors on mine, the bike is black, and I don't mind the look of the screen. I prefer it without it, like most people, but particularly don't like it on Green/White ones.

Enjoy

[Jon.sb]

I don't think that the black screen looks as good as ones with just the green fairing after seeing the manx one posted but to take it off would leave 3 screw holes or require me to buy a new green fairing so I'll lilve with it.

I don't dislike it and to be honest, I was figuring that I will probably respray the bike later in it's life (I saw a red italian bike on the Speed Triple site and it looks the business).

I weigh less that 10 stone (don't ask me about kilo's etc...) but I'm a feather weight so the suspension isn't a big deal however it's the mod that has the highest priority when I start looking to play around. The bike's engine has plenty of grunt and I love the sound it makes so suspension is where my pennies will go.

[vega 0]

Its such a shame that fitting the screen requires the holes to be drilled into the cowl, it would be good to be able to take it off from time to time. I will, like you, be leaving mine on there.

I weigh just over 14 stone, so you can imagine I notice its performance a little differently I like the sound of it standard, but really want different cans on there, but will probably fork out on the rear shock rather than cans when I can get the cash.

[Adamcheck]

I take it neither of you guys work :

[Jon.sb]

I am a freelance journalist for a motorcycle magazine.












Only joking! That's the benefit of a desk job and a slow day......

[Adamcheck]

Work offshore... so tend to surf when back in the office... (When i really should be outside in the cold )

[vega 0]

Its either fall asleep at my desk at the moment, or look at the internet. As I'm the only one in here at the moment, I could get away with both. Sleep is a pain though when the phone rings, scares the crap out of me

[Adamcheck]

I used fall asleep all the time in the control room...... now that is scary when that happens (P.s. Ssssssssh!)